Memo to Bears GM Jerry Angelo: Put Your Checkbook Away

Does anyone else remember the slime-ball reality show "Temptation Island" from a few years back? The premise of the show was to put a bunch of people with conflicting Achilles' heels together—basically the old gas and fire idea—on an island, and then wait to see what would happen.

I get the feeling that the same idea might be what we see if Chicago Bears GM Jerry Angelo doesn't think twice before filling a need on his roster through free agency this spring.

Looking at the list of "available" wide receivers, the Bears' biggest area of need, there are some names that will undoubtedly be popular for fans to throw around as being the cure to the Bears offensive issues. Jerry Porter, Javon Walker, TJ Houshmanzadeh, and even maybe Terrell Owens will be tempting. But each has obvious issues, from health to work ethic to salary demands and impact on team chemistry.

And then there's Marvin Harrison.

Harrison has apparently asked the Colts for his release because he doesn't want to take a pay cut to stay on as half of the most prolific touchdown-producing tandem in NFL history. He was set to have a cap number of $13 million in 2009.

So one of the players that Angelo watched torch his touted defense in the Super Bowl just a couple years ago might be out there for the taking...

Please, Jerry. Don't do it.

Harrison has pending legal issues in Pennsylvania, but I'm not going to touch those. Until there's something of substance, I'm not going to jump on any kind of bandwagon in that area. I'm more concerned about the Bears' future.

Last year, Angelo made one of the dumbest moves any GM has made in recent memory: he overpaid a one-dimensional player with a contract that is loaded with incentives for that player to do something other than that one dimension. Devin Hester was on the verge of becoming perhaps the greatest return man in the history of the league before he turned 26, and Angelo gave him millions to play receiver.

Now Angelo has the task of building a receiving corps around Hester to make the Bears a relatively versatile offense. Last year, rookie running back Matt Forte was the team's leading receiver—and runner. Shoot, he probably could have led the team in passing given the chance.

Harrison will be sold as a solid veteran with a ridiculous work ethic and numbers that only history can put into context. But what Angelo needs to do is look at the future, not the past.

Harrison has played basically in nirvana for a receiver. Ask any receiver what their dream is and they'll say a good quarterback, soft, fast turf, and no wind or snow. Could those requirements be filled any better than by Peyton Manning, indoors, and in Indianapolis for the past 10 years?

I have doubts that he would be the same man in Chicago, outdoors, with Kyle Orton.